The Israeli army has razed the home of a Palestinian who has been jailed, charged with killing a soldier. It's the third time the family's home has been demolished and more of its members are in jail, on charges including murder.

Early on Saturday, a massive Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) detachment arrived at the El Amari refugee camp close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Troops secured the four-story house, belonging to the Abu Humaid family, evicting its residents and some activists, who tried to prevent the demolition.

Footage from the scene shows Israeli army bulldozers and military personnel at the camp. The house was destroyed in a controlled explosion after the site was secured.

The operation was mounted in retaliation for the killing of an IDF soldier during a raid on the refugee camp in May. Back then, 20-yo Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky was hit by a large marble slab, hurled from a rooftop. He succumbed to his injuries two days later and a 32-year-old Palestinian, Islam Abu Humaid, was detained shortly afterwards. Abu Humaid stands accused of killing the soldier and attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with the crime scene.

The destruction of the house left the family unbroken and they vowed to rebuild it - again. The house had twice been razed by the Israeli military, during retaliation ops over the past three decades.

"All my sons have been either martyred or imprisoned, and that didn't break me," the family's matriarch Latifa Abu Humaid said, adding that such actions of the "enemy" only make the "animosity" stronger.

Two of Abu Humaid's other sons are in Israeli custody, charged with the killings of five Israelis, while two others stand accused of serious security offenses. Another sibling was killed by the Israeli military back in the early 1990s. The alleged killer of Lubarsky himself had been incarcerated by Israel for five years for "terrorist activities" committed on behalf of the Hamas Islamist group, according to local media.

Israeli authorities stand by the demolition of the family homes of "terrorists," defending it as an effective deterrence measure. Many human rights groups, however, have condemned it as a form of collective punishment, while others have raised questions over its actual effectiveness in supposedly discouraging potential "terrorists" from partaking in illicit activities.

Comment: What better way to illustrate that Israel considers the Palestinians untermensch, subhuman?

Reader Comments

In the name of sanity, and justice for Palestinians the World of democratic Nations, and the U.N. in particular, must counter those who are calling for the U.S. and AUSTRALIA to accept Israel’s claim of sovereignty over Jerusalem and other religious sites in the West Bank by unequivocally rejecting the legitimacy of religious nationalist claims based on military conquest. Recognition of or acquiescence to such profane claims will only serve to perpetuate religious conflict. History makes clear that the use of religion to justify the use of force is antithetical to civilization and, in the nuclear age, an intolerable threat to our collective human existence. Writing as an Australian Citizen, and echoing many of the voices in my social sphere, what the Australian Government is doing, not only does not make any rational sense, it directly ignores, and confirms itself as being complicit with all the crimes being inflicted upon the Palestinian Nation of innocent Peoples. This decision is not Australia exercising its sovereignty, it has none, this is Australia saying thank you for the Jewish/U.S. Shekels or some other craven twisted persuasion. Is the Australian Government so bereft of knowledge related to International Law, morals, integrity, and the many United Nations resolutions, all passed unanimously, calling upon This Jewish only Peoples, to cease the occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese and even Syrian lands? Can it really be thus moronic?